Intersections
by WWSmith
Summary: "Every once and a while, the powers above load the dice and create a day so outlandish, so improbable, so ridiculous that all those involved point and say 'now He's just screwing with us'. This is the story of one of those days."


**Significant facts to the story: **

"World As Myth" is a theory popularized by the book _The Number of the Beast_ by Robert A. Heinlein. This theory states that every universe result of a story. These universes exist independently of each other and can be visited from other universes if the proper technology is available. Within each universe, whatever its story states as canon is reality (i.e.: in the _Twilight_ universe, the vampires really do sparkle). This is the theory the mechanics of this story is based on.

David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor) got into acting because he wanted to be Dr. Who. He's also Scottish (i.e. his Doctor accent is fake and he does not speak that way normally), does a lot of charity work and does not run around dressed as the Doctor.

Alex Kingston fills the role River Song and was introduced to the show (and the Doctor) shortly before our story begins.

Billie Piper played Rose Tyler.

Christopher Eccleston was the Ninth Doctor.

John Barrowman plays Captain Jack Harkness. He is homosexual.

Although the proceeding facts are true, they are as far as my research into the real-life counterparts of the Dr. Who characters go. I do not know how any of these people act on a day-to-day basis or how the would react to situations in this story. This story is not meant to be a true representation of the actors or relationships of the actors with each other.

**Intersections**

The world is a weird place. Most say some sort of deity rules it, but the nature of this god or goddess or gods or goddesses is highly disputed: some believe them to be kind, others cruel, others claim jealousy or indifference. A few put the deities on our own level, saying that if they created us, they should be like us. Most days, people dismiss this idea. "God is greater and better and bigger than us," they say. "He would never create or do something just for His entertainment." Most days, the world would seem to support this idea. Most days, despite its weirdness, the world chugs along as a part of the status quo and the oddities are dismissed as benign or evil outliers in the normal behavior of a deity. But every once and a while, the powers above load the dice and create a day so outlandish, so improbable, so ridiculous that all those involved point and say "now He's just screwing with us" and the humor of the gods is all but confirmed. This is the story of one of those days.

Alex's day started out normal enough. She woke up to the sound of her obnoxious alarm clock and, after making some rather unkind comments about its origins and intelligence, silenced the device with a groggy slap. She rolled over, got out of bed and made her self ready for the day. Over cereal, she had the distinct feeling of "Thursday" even though she was pretty sure it was Friday. Why did she think it was Thursday? She grabbed her planner off the kitchen counter and flipped through it. Yes, it was Friday. Nothing much important to do today. She'd left the day open so she could run some errands. Oh, wait, here was something. She was going to meet David in the city today for lunch. She closed the book and put it in her bag. At least she'd have something to look forward to between office calls.

After a run to the bank and some window shopping, Alex sat sipping a coffee while she waited for David to arrive. It had been a couple of years since they'd last met in person. He'd called her a few weeks ago, saying that he would be in town for an audition and asking if she'd like to catch up. Alex had agreed, and they made plans to meet at a little café that they both knew near the BBC sets where Doctor Who was shot. She sat and waited in a booth near the glass front of the restaurant, mulling over memories of the filming. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a tall, thin, vaguely Scottish looking man with porcupine hair and a strange expression. Recognizing him, Alex waved him over. He looked down both ends of the street and then crossed quickly, almost at a run. As he came towards her, Alex noticed something odd about him. His manner, his clothes, they seemed off some how. When he had reached the other side of the street and her view was clear of cars, she realized what it was. He was dressed as the Tenth Doctor Who. He walked in, sat down across from her and immediately began talking to her in hushed tones.

"I need your help, River." He said in an English accent.

"River?" Alex asked, confused. "What are you talking about? And why are you dressed as the Doctor?"

"River, please. Something's gone terribly wrong and I need you to help me."

"David, I don't know what you're talking about. Why are running around acting like the Doctor? Is this some sort of charity stunt?" She knew he did a lot of that sort of thing. Maybe he'd forgotten to mention it.

"Charity stunt?" _You could call my whole life a charity stunt, _he thought. "Listen, you know who I am, right? I saw you recognize me."

"Yeah…" Alex conceded, though a bit unsure now.

"Good. I need you to help me as soon as possible. You're the only one I've been able to find who can."

"David…" Alex trailed off. She wasn't sure how to phrase this properly. "Are you… feeling okay?" The man across from her sighed and leaned forward.

"Why do you keep calling me David?" he asked.

"Because that's your name." _Have you totally gone around the bend?_ She asked in her mind.

"River, you know my name. It's not… 'David'…"

"Alright." _He's gone mad._ She thought. _He think's he's Doctor Who_."What should I call you then?"

"Well… 'Doctor' is what we usually go with." He thought about it and smiled. "Though you did call me 'pretty boy' once." Alex sat very still and tried to think. She had to get him to trust her so she could get him to a hospital or physiologist or wherever you took people when they went crazy.

"And you keep talking like that because…" she trailed off, waiting to see how he would fill in the sentence. He gave her a curious look.

"I always talk like this." He said, still as English as ever.

Alex nodded slowly. "Right..." She didn't like the look on his face – it had gone from confused to suspicious.

"River, you do know me…" he said in the same questioning tone she had just used.

"Of course, " she said at once, trying to adopt her 'River' persona, "you're the Doctor. I just… wasn't sure where we were is all." This seemed to satisfy him. He relaxed a bit and looked out the window.

"Right, here's what happened…" he began. She never did find out the rest of that sentence, because right at that moment a tall, thin, vaguely Scottish looking man with porcupine hair and a smile walked into the restaurant. "Alex," he said with a grin and Scottish accent, "how are you?"

The man who had just walked in stared at the man sitting in the booth. The man in the booth stared at the man who had just walked in. Alex watched both of them. The seated man broke the silence first. "What? WHAT!"

"Um… David, this is…" Alex tried. Who was he anyway? The sitting man put things together and calmed down a bit.

"Oh… So this is David…" he said, looking his doppelganger up and down appraisingly. "I can understand the mix-up, then."

"Who are you?" The standing man asked.

"Me? I'm the Doctor," he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The standing man closed his eyes and shook his head.

"David, maybe you'd better sit down." Alex suggested. It was a simple request. Normal. They needed some normal.

"Right…" The Scottish man sat down next to Alex. As he slid in, he whispered in her ear. "Is this some kind of crazy fan?"

"I heard that," said the man across from them, "and no, I'm not a fan." He turned to Alex. "You're not River Song, are you?"

"No." She admitted. No point in lying now.

"Then how did you know what to say?" Alex considered how to answer this. The truth would be just as outlandish sounding as anything she could come up with.

"I play her on T.V."

The man looked incredulous. "On T.V.? Right, and I guess you play the Doctor, then?"

David nodded. "I did. I've handed off the role now."

"This is worse than I thought." The man looked worried. "I've totally jumped my track. If you're the actor of me, than I'm not in my universe anymore. We never should have met. Something's gone terribly wrong with the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS?" David asked. "Hold on. You can't seriously expect us to believe you're the Doctor."

"How else do you explain me?" The man asked.

"You don't have a twin, do you David?" Alex asked.

"No… and no one in my family is as good with accents as I am." David admitted. "But that doesn't mean I believe you." In response, the man reached across the table, took Alex's forgotten coffee cup and broke the handle off against the table. Reaching into his suit, he pulled a tool with blue light out of the breast pocket. Setting the pieces of the cup against each other, he pointed the tool at the broken sections. David and Alex watched in awe as the cup was renewed. The man picked up the cup and swung it idly around on his finger. "Believe me now?" David stared. _It can't be. There's no way. The Doctor is a fictional character. It has to be some trick…_ He was still trying to convince himself the man across from him had not just pulled out a sonic screwdriver when the cup slipped and shattered across the floor. The man looked at the pieces and shrugged.

"Sorry about that."

"It IS you…"

* * *

David's whole face lit up as if all the Christmases and birthdays of his whole life had been mashed into this one moment. "You… you are him… the real him… you're the Doctor." He gave the man a huge smile. "You're THE Doctor!" He repeated at an even higher pitch.

"We can't stay here." The Doctor said. "The whoever who sent me here is going to figure out where I am. Is there somewhere we could go?"

"You're the Doctor!" David said again, still amazed.

"David, did you drive here?" Alex asked. He didn't answer. The Doctor waved his hand in front of David's face. "Hello? Anyone home?" David blinked and shook his head.

"What?"

"Did you drive?" Alex repeated insistently.

"No, I walked. I can't believe it's you really! After all this time…" David stammered.

"Okay, we're taking my car." She dropped some money on the table. "David, come on, you heard what he said."

"Right, right, I'm coming." Alex led the way out of the café, the Doctor following and David walking behind in a daze. They were almost to the car when a voice cut through the crowded street.

"Hey, Tennant!" She turned to see who it was and her stomach dropped. _Shit! Why did she have to be here? Of all the people!_ "David, stall her. Doctor, get in the car."

"What? Hey, what's…" the Doctor begin to ask before she shoved him in the car and flipped the child-locks.

"No time. Get in." She slammed the door and then stood against it. _Thank God I got the tinted windows…_ She turned to where David was having an awkward conversation with Billie Piper.

"Yeah, so I'll see you some time." David said, trying to get her to go away.

"Sure, see you." She went on her way past Alex and down the street. Alex heard thumping against the glass, then an odd electronic sound and shouting. She put her full weight against the car door and calmly addressed David.

"Please tell the good Doctor to stop pounding on the door. And make sure not to let him out. He probably thinks she's Rose." David went around to the other side of the car. "Seriously, if he makes a break for it, we'll never catch him. You of all people know how he can run."

"Yeah…" David opened the side door slowly. "Doctor…" He was sitting on the curbside of the car looking down at the floor.

"It wasn't her, was it?" He turned to David. "She's the actor for Rose, like you are for me."

"Yeah." David got in the seat opposite. "Look, I know how you feel about her. I spent five years pretending to be you. No one blames you for still caring about her." Alex opened the driver's side door and looked back.

"Are we good back there?"

"We're good, Alex." David said. "People still think she was the best companion. And the shippers are definitely in your corner, even over her." He nodded towards Alex.

"Shippers?" Alex asked. "You're a fan fiction reader?"

"Oh, come on – 'once a fan always a fan'. Are you telling me you never looked up stuff on Doctor Who or ER?"

"No." She responded a little to firmly. "Shippers do scary things even when they are in character." Alex remembered some of the horrible things she'd heard from friends about Internet pairings with character she had played and shuddered. Then she realized what she was doing. _I'm taking David Tennant and the Tenth Doctor back to my house. God, a shipper would have a field day with this._ She concentrated on driving and tried to put the Internet horrors out of her mind. In the back seat, David was eagerly discussing all things 'Who' with the Doctor. He'd clearly shifted out of sympathy mode from what Alex was could overhear.

"It's none of your business if we 'danced' or not!"

It was going to be a long drive home.

* * *

The Doctor and David were still talking when Alex pulled up to her house. The conversation was less scarring now – David still sounded like a crazed fan, but the Doctor was handling it well enough. Alex opened the house and ushered them in.

"So," she said as they wandered into her kitchen, "who are we hiding from?"

"I'm not sure." The Doctor began to pace the room. "It's not the Master, I would know if either of he were back…"

"Not necessarily, there was one time when…" David began.

"David!" Alex cut in. "Uh… help me with some tea?" David looked puzzled but walked over anyway. "He might not know about that yet." Alex whispered. "Be careful what you say."

"He does so know about it." David retorted. "He knows about you, doesn't he?" The Doctor looked curious, but went on.

"Probably not the Daleks or Cybermen, they just kill you… maybe the Black Guardian?"

"What about the Paradox Faction?" Alex asked. The Doctor snapped and pointed at her.

"Could be. Could very well be." He continued to pace with renewed speed. "So, we've got a bad guy we don't know who, trying to get me out of my universe. Why? Why would someone do that?"

"It might be just be the TARDIS messing up." David suggested. "Remember way back when that button spring broke?"

"Maybe." The Doctor sat down. "Poor girl's as old as I am." Alex handed the Doctor a cup of tea.

"What age are you really?" She asked. "You always give a different number." The Doctor looked thoughtful as he sipped at the mug.

"Old enough to be your great great great great grandfather's great great great great great great grandfather." He put the cup down. "So, how do we go about finding out the horror of the week?"

"You have to stay here." Alex said. "We can't have two David Tennants wandering around."

"What? Why me? Why not him? I'm the one who knows what he's looking for." The Doctor protested.

"Do you have any clue how popular 'Doctor Who' is? It's a miracle we got out the restaurant without being recognized. If you went wandering around you'd be mobbed before you could say 'sonic screwdriver'. And God only knows what would happen once they realized you're not David Tennant." Several horrible images flashed through her mind. Which would be worse: a timelord 'wanna be' figuring out he was the real thing or a fangirl figuring out he was the real thing? She shuddered. "No. You've got to stay here." The Doctor began to speak, but Alex cut him off. "And don't think we're leaving you here alone either. I know you'd just sneak out the second David and I were gone."

"Alex, who's going to stay with him?" David asked. She thought about it. The easiest thing would be to simply leave David and go look herself, but if they really were against a one of the Doctor Who villains going alone would be as stupid as it was dangerous.

"It's got to be someone who knows 'Who'… we can't just leave him with the neighbor."

"Billie's out. John's probably not a good idea either."

"We need someone knows the show and can keep him here…" Suddenly, it came to her. "I know who we can call."

* * *

Christopher Eccleston was confused when he picked up the phone. He hadn't kept up contact with the rest of the Doctor Who cast since he left the show, so he was surprised to hear David Tennant's voice on the other end of the phone. He wasn't sure exactly what the problem was, but decided to take David's word for the urgency of the situation. He reached Alex's house in a short time and knocked on the door. Alex answered it with a relieved smile.

"Ah, Christopher. I don't think we've met." She held out a hand. "I'm Alex." He took the offered hand.

"Chris is good." He looked around her. "So… what's the emergency?"

"You better come inside." She moved aside to let him in and he walked into the entryway. Alex closed the door and locked it. She took a breath. "Here's what happened…" Alex was about to attempt to explain that she had a fictional alien sitting in her kitchen when his tenth incarnation walked down the hallway.

"Is this him, then?" Alex fixed the Doctor with a look he would come to fear deeply in later years. "David," she said with emphasis, "please go back to the kitchen while I explain things."

"Oh, why bother sugar coating it?" He walked up to Chris. "Hello, Chris. I'm the Doctor."

Chris laughed. "Yeah, so I am." Alex sighed. _So much for making things easy._

"No, Chris. He really is the Doctor."

"Sure he is."

"Come on. It'll all make sense in a moment." Alex gave him a push towards the kitchen. As the walked into down the hall, she tried to fight down a sense of impending doom. She was so preoccupied that she barely stopped her self from running into Chris when he stopped dead at the site of David sitting at the kitchen table. He stared at David, then turned around to stare at the Doctor.

"How…"

"I told you, I'm the Doctor."

"But… this is impossible…"

"Well," the Doctor said with a characteristic tilting of his head, "my life whole impossible, so it's just another day for me." Chris continued to stare.

"Best get used to the idea, Chris." David said from the table. "I don't have a twin or anything."

"Why don't you sit down and have some tea with us?" Alex guided him to the table. Chris allowed himself to be steered to the table and a cup of Earl Grey pushed in his hand, never taking his eyes off the Doctor.

"How can even be here?" He asked finally.

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Alex said. "And you've going to make sure he stays here while we go figure it out." This startled Chris back into reality.

"What? Why me?" Alex counted off the reasons on her fingers.

"One, we can't have two David Tennants running around. Two, you know the Doctor and you can keep him here. Three," she walked over to the computer and pulled up a fan fiction site, "could you begin to imagine what would happen if people who wrote stuff like that would do if they figured out he was the real Doctor Who?" Chris leaned over enough to see the current top story and nodded.

"Yeah… I guess you're right. But," he looked over at the Doctor, "what do I with him?"

"You don't have to 'do' anything with me." The Doctor interjected. "I'm perfectly capable of entertaining myself. And since you insist on leaving me with the baby sitter, you'd better take this." He handed her a key. "The TARDIS is on a side-street three blocks down from the café I found you at. You should be able to see it if you're holding that. If you run into anything you can't deal with you can hide in there – it's not locked. Just don't touch anything."

"Thanks. Come on David, let's go." Out in the car, David asked if he could hold the TARDIS key.

* * *

They reached the café and parked. Immediately, David went in the direction of the TARDIS. "David, we're supposed to be looking for…" Alex trailed off. What were they looking for anyway?

"Come on," David called. "We should start with the TARDIS." She ran to catch up with him.

"It's not as if you didn't used to see it everyday. You know what it looks like."

"Yeah, but this is the real one! And besides, it probably is something wrong with it that dumped him here."

"How would we even know if something was wrong? Or fix it?" He didn't seem to be worried about the answers to either of those questions. _And really,_ Alex thought as she followed him, _why would he be? One his childhood dreams is coming true._ When they reached the street the Doctor had told them the TARDIS was on, Alex didn't see a thing. She tried to remember what had been said on the show about perception flitters. _I should be able to see it if I know it's there…_ She watched David walk reverently up to an empty spot in the alley. It looked like it could fit a fifties police call box. Alex imagined the TARDIS being there and thought she saw something, maybe… David grabbed the handle of the door and the entire structure was clear to her.

"Oh my god…" Up until now, this had seemed like a surreal adventure into imagination. Now, standing in front of the open door of the TARDIS, Alex began to feel some of the excitement that had made David bounce around like a child. She followed him into the phone box.

"It really is bigger on the inside…" David was standing in the middle of the room of the TARDIS, taking it all in. They stood together in the control room in wonder.

"I bet we could figure out what was wrong if we tried." David said finally.

"You know that's not a good idea. Even the Doctor doesn't know what half of these controls do."

"What are you talking about? Of course he does."

"He leaves the brakes on!"

"Yeah, well… he likes the sound. And besides, we both know that the 'go' button is that one over there." He pointed to a big plastic button a few paces around the control board.

"Are you really trying to convince me that you know what all of these things do?"

"No." David looked over the controls. "But I do know the important ones. Fans like consistency." Alex sighed.

"So what are you going to do, look for loose wires?"

"Something like that." He got down on his hands and knees. "I know how things are meant to look."

"If it were something that simple, the Doctor would have fixed it himself."

"Not necessarily. He might have missed something." David held up a loose connection triumphantly. "Something like this." Alex walked around to him, but kept her distance.

"Great. Now lets go get the Doctor so he can fix it."

"No need. I see where the wire goes…" David fiddled with the undercarriage of the control board.

"This isn't a sound stage. It's the real thing – stop messing with it."

"Oh, come on." He said dismissively. "You just match colors and shapes." There was a click, then a surge of power. The TARDIS gave a horrible lurch as lights flashed around them.

"David! What did you do?" Alex shouted.

"Nothing! I just put back where it… AH!" David rolled away from the sparks coming from the wiring. The TARDIS shook again, making Alex loose her balance. She threw out her hands to catch herself and was horrified to hear a sound she and David had both known since childhood. Alex lifted her hands fearfully. The 'go' button was flashing under her palm.

* * *

When the rasping sound of the TARDIS died away, the light and sounds of the machine faded as well and the room looked as it had before.

"What happened?" David asked from the floor.

"I think… I think we went somewhere." Alex reached down a hand to help him up. She pulled David to his feet and walked around to the view screen mounted above their heads.

"Where are we?" David asked.

"I don't know." The view on the screen showed a large, manor-style house that wouldn't have looked out of place on the English countryside if it weren't for the red leafed vines crawling up the walls. The surrounding grass and trees appeared normal – somewhat kept but not overly controlled. "It looks like we're on someone's front lawn."

"Well," said David "lets go see who's home." He walked to the door. Alex started to object, but then followed along. If this really was the Doctor's universe, they were more likely than not to run into someone helpful. It happened on the show all the time, so if the show was what the universe took as real, they'd be okay. _Unless we run into the Master or a Dalek or some other random enemy,_ she thought. If this was the Whoverse, horrible disaster was likely as well. _Please let this be an "everyone lives" episode,_ Alex fervently hoped as David knocked on the door.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" A human female voice called from inside. That was good. Most of the females on the show liked the Doctor. Alex thought the voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. Maybe they had run into Rose or some branch of Torchwood. She looked around again. There were sounds behind the door, and a whispered oath. The door opened slowly.

"Doctor?"

All of a sudden Alex knew why the voice sounded so familiar. Being an actress, she was accustomed to hearing her own voice played back from a recording, but she had never heard herself in real life.

"No." David said. "Not the Doctor. I'm… we're from another universe. Where we come from, the Doctor is a television character."

"And you're him?"

"I played him, yes. And she's you." He gestured towards Alex.

"But how did you get here?"

"The Doctor appeared in our universe." Alex explained. "He's still there now. This one had the bright idea of trying to fix the TARDIS and it landed us here." River peered around them to look at the blue police box sitting on her front lawn. "Can you help us?" River smiled.

"I certainly can. Come in."

Back at Alex's house, things were going from weird to dull in a hurry. Now that the initial shock had worn off, there wasn't much to do to pass the time. Chris wasn't as big of a fan of Doctor Who as David. He had watched the show as a kid, sure – it was as much a part of being British as tea and football, but he wasn't a diehard. The Doctor was occupying himself taking a part the sonic screwdriver using various tools, kitchen implements and some toothpicks.

"What are you doing?" He asked, mostly out of boredom.

"Maintenance." The Doctor replied distractedly. "I don't get the time to do it usually."

"Why haven't you ever made it so it'll work on wood?"

"Oh, I suppose I could, but it wouldn't be the same."

"Wouldn't be the same?"

"Yeah," the Doctor pressed down a switch with a toothpick and pulled a spring out with a pair of tweezers. "There's a very delicate balance that lets this thing do all the stuff it does." He put the spring down on the counter. "If I tried to add more functions at this stage, the whole thing would get cocked up."

"Mmm…" Chris sat down in the stool opposite the Doctor and stared out the window. How long were Alex and David going to look? He should have made them give a time or something. He didn't want to get stuck here all day… His train of thought was interrupted when a small plume of purple smoke erupted behind him. He turned around to see the Doctor coughing and waving the smoke away.

"What did you do?" Chris asked, annoyed and worried.

"Nothing, nothing…" The Doctor continued to cough. "It's supposed to do that, really." Chris began opening windows. The Doctor grabbed a few bits of the screwdriver and ran them under the tap. Vaguely purple steam began to rise from the metal.

"Hey, that's not going to hurt Alex's sink or anything, will it?"

"No," The Doctor said dismissively. "Might make her grass taste like licorice for a few days, but no lasting damage."

"Like… licorice?" Chris asked, avoiding the more obvious question of why someone would eat grass.

"It's a side effect of the metal – effects certain compounds in grasses of the Western Spiral Arm. But like I said, it won't hurt anyone." Chris decided to take his word for it.

"Maybe you should leave the screwdriver alone for a while…" He suggested.

"I have to." The Doctor said, laying out the pieces on a paper towel. "The metal's got to cool off before I put it back together."

"How long will that take?"

"Oh, an hour, maybe two. Don't want any real explosions." The Doctor walked around the room and stopped in front of the computer. "So… what's this 'fan fiction' stuff?"

* * *

"I knew you two would show up some day." River said as the three of them entered the TARDIS. "The Doctor told me about it." She walked over to the place where Alex had hit the controls. "You hit the panel here, yes?" Alex nodded.

"My left hand hit the button. I didn't see where the other one went." River pointed to a pad on the console that looked to be a scanner of some kind.

"Your other hand hit there. It's meant to be a locator. Saved my life a couple of times. In an emergency, it'll make the TARDIS jump to the closest instance of the thing scanned. My guess is there's something wrong that made it think there was danger." She surveyed the interior. "He never was able to slow down enough to take care of this poor thing. You said there were loose wires?"

"Yeah, around there. All I did was plug them back in." David said defensively. River went over, inspected David's jury-rigging and laughed.

"You've hooked up wires that were never meant to be." She pulled them out. Brushing off her hands, she stood up. "Once upon a time, the Time Lords could jump universes, but not anymore. Those wires are leftovers. He probably left them unconnected on purpose."

"So… they got stuck back in and the universe jump got turned on?" David asked.

"That's what I'm guessing. He probably hit the emergency 'find it' pad by accident and the TARDIS took him to the closest thing, which was you. Anyway, the important thing is I can fix it so you go home, he can come back and everything's set to rights. Give me a few tics and I'll be back with the tools."

"What? WHAT?" Chris woke with a start. He'd been lying on the couch, telling himself he could keep an eye on the Doctor from there without a problem, but in reality aiming for a nap. He sleepily wandered over to where the Doctor was still sitting at the computer.

"What's wrong?"

"This!" The Doctor said, voice still shrill. "How could anyone know about it?" Chris leaned over and looked at the screen. "We never told anyone about that!" He skimmed the contents of the fic the Doctor had been reading. The title was 'Love over London' and seemed to revolve around a rather interesting interpretation of what happened after "Doctor Dances" between Jack, the Doctor and Rose. Chris felt a little sick.

"What do you mean?" He asked, afraid.

"We never spoke of that! How someone know? Even I don't remember what happened that night…" Chris looked at the Doctor in horror.

"You mean… you, and Jack… and Rose…?" The Doctor colored and scrubbed the back of his head.

"Well… everyone lived and… we are all so happy and… Jack figured out how to get the TARDIS to make alcohol… and…" He trailed off. Chris continued to stare. "Look, I don't remember much of it. All I know is that there were bananas, and chocolate… and something that went squeak… I woke up on the floor of the TARDIS with her on side and him on the other and…"

"OKAY!" Chris said far louder than was necessary. "That's way more than I needed to know!"

The Doctor was quieted by this outburst for a moment, then said, "We all just agreed to pretend it hadn't happened." Chris quickly walked away and shut himself in the bathroom. Horrible, horrible thoughts were running through his mind. There had been a party, right after the filming of "Doctor Dances". It was a send off for John. Chris, knowing that he wasn't going to be driving that night, had had a few more beers than was probably advisable. He had woken up the next morning on the floor of one the many costume rooms tied up in many long, colorful scarves and conspicuously missing any other clothing. John was asleep a few feet from him, buried in a pile of assorted shirts and pants. On the other side he spotted Billie curled up under Jack's military coat. The room was littered with banana peels and candy bar wrappers along with random squeaky toys, the origins of which had never been satisfactorily explained. None of them could completely recall what had happened. Chris vaguely remembered getting the bananas and the chocolate from a food trailer, but had no memory of the toys. Later, John would recall an umbrella from somewhere, but not much else. Billie claimed the clearest memory, but insisted that nothing had happened and that they just forget the whole thing. Chris shuddered. What if something really had happened and Billie was trying to cover it up? If the characters had done something, what did that mean about the real life counterparts, especially with such a specific coincidence? The Doctor knocked on the door.

"Chris? Are you alright?" He opened the door cautiously.

"Oh, me? I'm fine, just fine." He gave the Doctor a ridiculously fake reassuring smile.

"What are you so worried about anyway?"

"Um… did Jack ever tell you what he remembered? From that time, I mean?" The Doctor frowned, trying to recall.

"Yeah… he said he remembered an umbrella." Chris went cold.

"And… Bil- Rose?"

"She wouldn't tell us anything – just kept saying that we should forget it and move on."

"..."

* * *

"That should do it." River said as she clambered up from under the TARDIS control board. "The next trip will take you two back where you belong and the one after that will send the Doctor back where he belongs."

"Hey, if you can make the TARDIS jump universes this one time, then could you…" David began. River shook her head.

"It's risky, traveling between universes. Never know when you'll get stuck."

"Where are you… in the timeline?" David asked.

"No spoilers even for you, pretty actor. It might be just a show on telly were you come from, but it's my life."

"Are you past the crash of the _Byzantium_?" Alex asked, using the only reference she could. River laughed.

"Oh… the _Byzantium_… that was ages ago. I'm way past that. What other times have you done?" Alex and David looked at each other.

"Well, the show follows the Doctor so I've only been on twice." Alex said.

"Really? What was the other time?" Alex scrambled for a feasible excuse, but couldn't think of one. She dodged.

"I don't think you've gotten there yet."

"Is that so…" River looked confused for a moment, then realization spread over her face. "It's my death. You've filmed me dying." Alex didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry...".

"It's all right." River said, looking resolute. "Everybody dies some day." She paused. "Besides, if you know about it, that means he'll be there when it happens… and that's something."

"River…" David said hesitantly, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." River replied. "No guarantee I'll answer it." David took a breath.

"I've been watching the Doctor since I was a little boy. He was my hero as a child." He gave a laugh. "The whole reason I got into acting was so I could be him someday. And I did. I got to be him…" He looked River straight in the eye. "I have to know: does he win out in the end? Does he ever get to be happy?"  
"That's a hard question to answer." River began to walk around the TARDIS, trailing her hand along the console. "The short answer is 'yes'. He does get to be happy." She stopped and stared off into the distance. "But… nothing with the Doctor gets to be that simple and last: he doesn't get to ride off into the sunset to live happily ever after. He gets his moments, and…" She turned away from them "… there is a time... not long, not nearly long enough… but there is a space where he gets to live just to be alive and be as happy as he'll let himself be. Does that answer your question?"

"Yeah." David said quietly. Alex thought she heard a sniff.

"Anyway," River said as she turned back to them, "you should be all clear to head back to your world. Everything's set – just hit the big button and don't touch anything else." River Song walked out of the TARDIS, back across her front lawn and into the house. Only then, when the door was closed and the blinds were pulled and no trace of the phone box remained anywhere but in her mind, did she allow herself to cry.

* * *

Alex and David stepped out of the TARDIS and on to Alex's front lawn. As they reached the door, Chris burst out of it, knocking them aside.

"Chris? What's wrong?" He just shook his head and barreled toward his car, raving about bananas and scarves and phone calls he had to make. Opening the car door, he jumped inside and sped off, barely missing a dog as he went.

"Doctor, what happened?"

"Oh nothing. He just learned that there are things that go on when you guys aren't watching. So," he nodded towards the TARDIS, "I'm guessing you didn't listen to me."

"Yeah… the fan boy's curiosity got the better of him."

"Fan boy?" David said, his voice pitching up. "I am not just some fan boy. I am a life time loyal devotee of the Doctor."

"Whatever." Alex turned to the Doctor. "The TARDIS is fixed now."

"Really? How'd you manage that?"

"We ran into River."

"River?" The Doctor looked curious.

"Yeah. When I fell into the 'go' button, I also hit the 'find this thing and go it' pad. It sent us to her."

"'Find this thing and go to it' pad?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, give me a break – nothing's labeled in there." Alex crossed her arms. "And be kind to her, will you? She loves you." There was a slip in the Doctor's armor for a moment, then he recovered his neutral expression.

"Don't worry… I will be."

"I mean it. The eleventh you hasn't been winning any awards for congeniality." The Doctor looked like he wanted to ask, but thought better of it.

"Well, I'm off. People to meet, worlds to save." The Doctor walked up to the TARDIS, snapped his finger and went inside. The engines started up and he was gone. Alex and David stood together for a moment, then David began to laugh.

"What so funny?"

"I didn't go with him. All those years I was hoping to look out my window and see a big blue box… I met the Doctor and didn't go with him." He shook his head. "Guess I'm not as big a fan boy as you thought, Alex."

And so Alex's day ended. For her, it would be the last time she would be played with by the gods in such a manner. Unfortunately, the humor of the gods had not yet satisfied: there were others, so many others they could play with.


End file.
